Analysis of the United States Marine Corps Continuous Process Improvement Program applied to the contracting process at Marine Corps Regional Contracting Office-Southwest

Abstract

This MBA Project outlines the components of CPI while providing an example and an assessment of its application in the Regional Contracting Office-Southwest (RCOSW). Budgetary constraints require the Marine Corps to function as efficiently as possible. Continuous Process Improvement (CPI) provides the enterprise-wide approach by which the Marine Corps will generate necessary efficiencies. The primary focus of CPI in the Marine Corps is improving support to the warfighter. The purpose of this project is to examine the United States Marine Corps Continuous Process Improvement Program as it applied to the Marine Corps RCO-SW to determine possible reductions in procurement administrative lead time (PALT). Lean, Six Sigma, and the Theory of Constraints (TOC) are predominant process improvement methods used in business and the Department of Defense to make better products and provide faster service, resulting in increased end-user satisfaction. The RCO-SW has been identified as a pilot program for the implementation of the Marine Corps CPI Program. The objectives of this project are to study the process improvement methods and examine how they can be applied during the execution of a process improvement project.